I think half the battle of good product photography is gathering a set of background options that are accessible and removable. As someone who uses varying locations outside and around the house for my shots, depending on what the light is doing, I need something that I can move around easily.

1. Tiles from the Hardware Store

A fun secret about product and brand photography is that you can use a small background to make a huge impact. For example, you can buy two square tiles from Lowes for around $6 total and create a really beautiful setup. That's exactly what I did here:

These are actually two tiles -- a square marbled grey and a rectangle white marble.

2. Marble Contact Paper

Surprisingly, the tiles above can be pretty heavy if carried together. If you need something a little bigger and lighter, I love using a piece of marble contact paper. I purchased a roll similar to this one on Amazon on added it to a piece of white foam core poster. There are a lot of contact paper options, you just want to pay attention to how real it looks in photos. (Contact paper won't show you the depth and texture of the real deal.)

3. Plain White Table Cloth or Foam Board

A white table cloth has come really handy for me. I use this background more for flatlays and stylized shots of products -- not so much for official product shots. The key to background is they need to be something you can move easily towards a window or some other source of natural light. I have a white table cloth on my dining room table at home, but I can only typically use that spot in the early afternoon, when the sun shines through that window just right. I definitely recommend having a pop up table that you can through a white table cloth on quickly if you're in a pinch.

4. Anything Wood, Especially a Table

If you have a nice wood table next to a natural light source, that's a great place to start! But if you need something portable, I have a few ideas to explore. First, there are photo backdrops that you can buy on Amazon, like this one here. These work out great for the most part, but you risk the same level of inauthenticity.

Another great option is to get a few pieces of scrap wood and glue/nail them together. You can leave them natural or paint them white for a really nice, rustic affect.

5. Scrapbook Paper

Another background I use for overhead shots of a product is scrapbook paper. It's very affordable, and you can get a huge selection to choose from. These sheets of paper aren't huge, so this would be most useful for smaller items. I would typically suggest using a background that doesn't distract from the object you're shooting, but if it works within the brand to do something funky and different, you will have a lot of options.

I hope this list has been helpful! Do you have some additional resources you use for background photos? I'd love to hear your ideas!